Control system



MM 3, 1970 KEQT iz'rm. 3,493,039

comm SYSTEM- Filed July 29. 1968 L 82 JL @1 4 QR) WWW INVENTORS EDWARD L. KENT ATTOR EYS United States Patent 3,498,039 CONTROL SYSTEM Edward L. Kent, Johnston, and William R. Whitney,

Cranston, R.I., assignors to Leesona Corporation, Warwick, R.I., a corporation of Massachusetts Filed July 29, 1968, Ser. No. 748,412 Int. Cl. Dtllh 13/26 US. CI. 57-34 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A control system for a tender which services bobbin winding stations on a spinning or twisting machine, or the like. The system provides optical-electronic signals for operating the tender. These signals include a signal indicating when a particular station is in operational condition and another signal indicating when the station requires servicing. Upon receipt of both of these signals the control system initiates a work cycle of the tender to service. If the tender is unable to adequate service the station, an indicator which cooperates in providing the operational signal is moved to a non-operational position so that this signal is not provided and thereafter the tender by-passes the station until the station is again placed in operational condition as by an attendant. When the indicator is moved to its non-operational position it causes the strand to be broken prior to entering drafting rolls of the station. The servicing signal is provided either when the bobbin at the particular station is ready to be doffed or when there is an interruption in the advancing strand to the bobbin.

This invention relates to a spinning or twisting machine and, more particularly, to a control system for initiating a work cycle of a tender for servicing the machine.

As used herein the term package means the product of a winder or twister or other strand handling machine, wound so that it may be moved from place to place. The term yarn is employed in a general sense to apply to all kinds of strand material, either textile or otherwise.

Automatic operation of a spinning or twisting machine is discolsed in a co-pending Leesona Corporation patent application by Charles C. Bell and Kurt W. Niederer, Ser. No. 534,081, filed Mar. 14, 1966, for a Textile Machine now Patent No. 3,403,866. That application is, in part, directed to a servicing tender which patrols a series of bobbin winding stations of the machine and includes a control system for initiating servicing any station requiring attention. More particularly, the tender stops at a station to dotf a full bobbin and to install an empty bobbin core and initiate Winding on the core, or in the event of disruption of the advancing strand of yarn to the bobbin, the tender removes the partially filled bobbin and inserts an empty core and then initiates winding of the strand. In the event that the tender is unable to adequately service the station, the station is rendered non-operational and thereafter the tender by-passes the station until the attendant manually services the station and again places it in operational condition.

The invention is, in brief, directed to an optical-electronic control system for a tender patrolling stations of a spinning or twisting machine. The control system has a photo cell responsive to an indicator at each station for providing a signal or indication when the station is in operational condition and other photo cells for providing a signal or indication when the station requires servicing. Responsive to these two signals, a work cycle of the tender is initiated. If the tender is unable to adequately service the station, it automatically operates a roving breaker which breaks the roving upstream of drafting rolls of the station. In its normal or operational position this roving breaker serves as the indicator for the opera- 3,498,039 Patented Mar. 3, 1970 tional signal and when in its strand breaking position no operational signal is provided. The servicing signal may be either a signal or indication from a photo cell of interruption of the yarn advancing to the bobbin, or a signal or indication from a pair of photo cells of a bobbin to be dotted.

It is a primary object of this invention to provide a new and improved control system for a strand handling machine.

Another object is provision of a new and improved optical-electronic control system for controlling a patrolling tender of a spinning or twisting machine and, more particularly, for providing an indication when a station is in operational condition and another indication when this station requires servicing, and responsive to these two indications for initiating the work cycle of the tender. A related object is provision of such a system in which the servicing indication is either an indication that a bobbin is ready to be dotted or an indication of an interruption in the strand advancing to the bobbin. Another related object is provision in such a system for assuring discontinuance of advance of the strand if the tender is unable to adequately service the station.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary, schematic plan view of a spinning machine incorporating a preferred embodiment of a control system of the invention, with parts removed and broken away for clearer illustration;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary elevational diagram taken generally along the line 22 in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is an electrical diagram of the control system.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawing, a spinning frame 10 includes a base 12 on which a series of spindles 14 are suitably journalled and rotated, one at each of a plurality of stations 16. Each spindle 14 removably mounts a bobbin core telescoped on the spindle and on which a strand of yarn is Wound to form a package such as a bobbin 18.

As is more fully discussed in the aforementioned application, in order to scan the bobbins 18 and to service stations 16 requiring attention, a pair of parallel tracks 20 are mounted on the base 12 and receive wheels 22 of a tender in the form of a carriage 24 mounted to traverse back and forth on the tracks past the stations 16. The carriage wheels 22 are suitably journalled on a carriage body 26 and, more particularly, a pair of these wheels 22 at the right end of the carriage body 26 are fixedly mounted on a shaft 28 received in journals 30 on the carriage body. This shaft 28 has fixed thereto a driven pulley wheel 32 connected by a timing belt 34 with a drive wheel 36 of a suitable reversible air motor 38 mounted on the carriage body 26. As the carriage 24 moves toward the right end of its tracks 20, a pivoted actuator 40 of a switch 42 mounted on the carriage body 26 engages an abutment 44 on the base 12 to reverse the position of the switch actuator 40 and thereby the direction of the carriage 24, and at the left end of the tracks 20 the actuator 40 engages another abutment 46 to again reverse the carriage. This switch 42 is connected in circuit with a four-way solenoid valve 48 so that when the switch actuator engages one of the abutments, the solenoid valve is energized to reverse operation of the motor 38, and when the switch actuator engages the other of the abutments, the solenoid valve is taken out of circuit to again reverse the direction of operation of the air motor, thus causing the carriage 24 to traverse to and fro past the bobbins 18 being wound at the stations 16.

During normal operation of the machine, roving Y (FIG. 2) advances downwardly through a trumpet guide 50 and a set of drafting rolls 52, then past an inlet in a vacuum duct 54 for receiving and removing yarn in the event of yarn breakage downstream of the drafting rolls, and then through a lower yarn guide 56 centered above the bobbin 18 and the rotating spindle 14, and from the lower guide 56 through the traveller 58 on 'a ring 60 encircling the bobbin 18 and mounted on a ring rail 62 (not shown in FIG. 1) which moves up and down as the yarn advances from the traveller and is wound onto the bobbin. The parts 50-62 are all suitably mounted on the base 12.

If the station 16 is in operational condition, an indicator in the form of a roving breaker 64 is in an operational position as indicated by the solid lines in FIG. 2. The roving breaker 64 is pivoted at its lower end to a suitable fixed support 66 of the machine and carries suitable means, such as a plurality of pins 68, for engaging the roving Y above the trumpet guide 50 when the roving breaker 64 is pivoted to a position against a frame member 70 as indicated by dotted lines in FIG. 2. Movement of the roving breaker 64 from its operational to its nonoperational position may be effected in any suitable manner, and as illustrated in FIG. 2 is effected by opening a shut-off valve 72 to project a jet of air from a tube 74 fixed n the carriage body 26 and aligned with the roving breaker in its operational position, with the carriage in its servicing position at a station. Opening of the valve 72 may be controlled in any desired manner, for example by a suitable signal as disclosed in the aforementioned copending patent application.

As the carriage 24 is moving past a station 16, an operational signal or indication is provided by a suitable photo-electric cell 76 fixedly mounted on the carriage body 26 and energized by a ray of light 78 originating from a suitable lamp 80 fixed on the carriage body and reflected off of the roving breaker 64 when the roving breaker is in its operational position as shown by solid lines in FIG. 2. This signal, combined with a servicing signal or indication starts the work cycle of the carriage 24. The servicing signal may be provided either by energization of a second photo cell 82 fixed on the carriage body 26 and receiving a ray of light 84 from a lamp 86 fixed on the carriage body and reflected off of the yarn Y at a point between the drafting rolls 52 and the lower yarn 56 to provide a strand interruption signal or indication, or by a full bobbin signal or indication from a pair of photo-electric cells 88 (FIGS. 1 and 2) fixed to the carriage body 26 and each receiving through a lens 90 different rays 92, one reflected off opposite sides of the yarn on a full bobbin 18 from each of two lamps 94 fixed to the carriage'body, as is more fully described in a copending Leesona Corporation patent application by William R. Whitney, Ser. No. 671,918, filed Sept. 15, 1967, for a Full Package Signalling Device. All of the photo cells and lamps herein disclosed may be of the type re ferred to in this co-pending patent application.

Referring to FIG. 3, the operational signal photo cell 76 is connected through an amplifier 1A with a relay IR and upon energization of this photo cell a normally open switching means as a contact 1R1 of this relay closes. If the roving breaker 64 is in its non-operational position, as shown by dotted lines in FIG. 2, the operational signal photo cell 76 is not energized and the relay contact 1R1 remains open. In the event that the yarn Y is advancing properly to the bobbin, the photo cell 82 for providing the interrupted or broken yarn servicing signal is energized and through an amplifier 2A energizes a relay 2R which thereupon opens its normally closed switching means as a contact 2R1, which is in series with the contact 1R1. In the event that the bobbin 18 is full, the pair of photo cells 88 are simultaneously energized and through an amplifier 3A energize a relay 3R which thereupon closes its normally open switching means as a contact 3R1 which is in series with the contact 1R1 and in parallel with the contact 2R1. Now, if the contact 1R1 is closed and one of the contacts 2R1 or 3R1 are also closed, a starting signal or indication i pro ided to a control unit 96 of the carriage 24 causing the carriage to stop at the station 16 requiring service and to proceed with servicing of the station, as described in the previously mentioned co-pending patent application Ser. No. 534,081. Otherwise, the carriage continues its patrolling operation and by-passes the station.

While this invention has been described with reference to a particular embodiment in a particular environment, various changes may be apparent to one skilled in the art and the invention is therefore not to be limited to such embodiment or environment.

What is claimed is:

1. A system for commencing a work cycle in a patrolling tender movable relative to a servicing position proximate at least one strand processing station on an associated strand handling machine, comprising first photo responsive means for providing an indication when a station is in operational condition, second photo responsive means for providing an indication when the last said station requires servicing, and third means responsive to the com: bination of said indications for starting the work cycle of said tender.

2. A system as set forth in claim 1 in which said first photo responsive means includes indicator means movable from an operational position to a non-operational position upon an unsuccessful attempt by said tender to service the last said station, and first photo cell means responsive to said indicator means in said operational position to provide the operational indication.

3. A system as set forth in claim 2 in which the strand is advancing during normal operation of the last said station, and in which the indicator means is further operable upon movement to said non-operational position for assuring discontinuance of the advancement of the strand.

4. A system as set forth in claim 2 in which the strand is advancing and is formed into a package during normal operation of the last said station, and in which said second photo responsive means includes second photo cell means for providing an indication when the package is ready to be dotfed and third photo cell means for providing an indication when there is an interruption in the strand, and said third means is responsive to a combination of one of the two last said indications and the operational indication to start said work cycle.

5. A system as set forth in claim 4 including means for moving said indicator from an operational position to a non-operational position upon an unsuccessful attempt by said tender to service the last said station, said indicator being operable in said non-operational position for assuring discontinuance of the-advancement of the strand, and said operational indication being provided responsive to said indicator means in said operational position, whereby the tender by-passes the last said station when said indicator means is in said non-operational position.

6. A system as set forth in claim 5 in which the first, second and third photo cell means are connected in circuit for operating first, second and third switching means, respectively, and said second and third switching means are connected in parallel with each other and in series with said first switching means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,300,959 1/l967 Fujihara et al. 5753 3,309,859 3/1967 Vehorn 57 81 3,430,426 3/1969 Bryan et al. 5734 STANLEY N. GILREATH, Primary Examiner WERNER H. SCHROEDER, Assistant Examiner US. Cl, X.R 57-81, 86; 2 50219 

